3 major Mets roster changes Billy Eppler and Buck Showalter may be forced to make

3) NY Mets should already have plans to improve the DH situation

Vogelbach against the righties and Pham or another one of the right-handed hitters against the lefties is not a perfect model for the DH spot. It’s a cost-effective plan but a limited one largely because Vogelbach doesn’t give the team much at all on the defensive side of things. The Mets don’t need a true masher in the DH spot. They just need a little more flexibility with the overall roster.

The presence of Vogelbach is one of the reasons why they couldn’t possibly carry Francisco Alvarez on the Opening Day roster. Having two first basemen and three catchers on your roster is bad news.

Eppler needs to remain open to other DH options. Anyone who could be more of an everyday player in this role would be ideal. Alternatively, not having any one individual as the automatic DH works as well.

The team doesn’t have to look very far to find those bats. Alvarez, Baty, and Mark Vientos are all fits to get at-bats as the designated hitter in the majors. Each has some questionable defense. At least they can do more than grab a first baseman’s mitt then say a prayer.

We’ve seen some ups and downs out of the DH spot already this year. The biggest beef with it is how it cannot be properly used for something like giving Starling Marte a full week to hit and not play defense. The issue all goes back to Eppler sticking with the platoon plan started last summer. He already had to eat the Darin Ruf mistake. Will he be forced into swallowing the rest?